The 20 Most Beautiful College Campuses in America

To achieve “higher learning” requires a bit of inspiration—consider the looming spires and manicured quads of Oxford and Cambridge overseas. Some of America’s oldest colleges, such as Princeton and Yale, employed the Collegiate Gothic look, while other universities have more contemporary architectural styles that bring a bit of West Coast innovation: think Stanford’s Mission Revival and Pepperdine’s Mediterranean Revival. Some campuses would be breathtaking without any manmade structures at all: The oceanside Brigham Young University-Hawaii, in Laie, for one, is pretty close to paradise. Here, we celebrate the most beautiful college campuses in the country. Read on to see if your alma mater made the grade.